Tiny Eyes Collaboration!

OHMYGOSH!

You guys have been following along with the progress of the Tiny Eyes dolls, aye?!

The wonderful Dee, who might be the most talented person in the world, offered seven creatives the chance to design one of her dolls. I was one of the lucky seven.

I had so much fun doodling a sketch of the wee lass, picking out fabrics and sewing up a tiny dress and itty bitty rosette. I'm quite certain I've never stitched such small stitches before, but it was strangely enjoyable!
(Perhaps doll accessories is my future line of work? ; P)

This is the finished product. Isn't she INCREDIBLE?! (If I do say so myself!)

Dee has done a most fabulous job.

The other dolls (which you can see over here.. though you've seen them, right?) are equally as fabulous. And you're in luck. They will be auctioned tomorrow!

To bid on the Croutons doll, or any of the others, you need to follow Tiny Eyes on FB, and join Dee's event. There you will be able to take part in the auction from Friday lunchtime, through to Sunday lunch. Be warned though, I've been saving my pennies, and I have my eye on at least one of the other dolls! Heh.

The dolls are also on display at the Walton Street Cafe in Te Awamutu today, from 8-2pm. If you're passing by, please call in for a cuppa and ogle them for me. I'm most envious of those who get to see them all in one place! So good.

Corners of my home.

I feel like our little whare is taking shape. It's a slow process, though, this making a home from a house thing.
When we bought this place, we wrote gigantic big lists of things we wanted to do. We also wrote lists of things we needed to do. I would love to say either of these lists have become any shorter but, in fact, they have both grown. This appears to be the nature of the beast that is home ownership.

I like to take photos like these, though, to remind myself that we're getting there. A new blue, chalkboard, wall in the boys room, a swing hung in the back yard, a few lettuce plants in the ground, the primer up on the kitchen door.. these are all itty bitty steps, but we're making progress.

It's been a strange last few weeks. So busy, yet not.
We've been fighting off a dose of the Winter Blues, and mostly winning (first year I've been able to say that!). I've been focusing a lot of my health (weightloss/exercise) and less on sewing and blogging (maybe you've noticed?) and I'm struggling to find a good balance between the two. I do like a good challenge though, so that is my goal for the next month - try and find that magical place, where I'm spending enough time on the cross-trainer, but also storing enough energy to sew for a few hours each night.

That, and keep chipping away at our house-lists.

Mollie's Chair - 15 Months

Mollie
15 Months

I'm a week late, thanks to the busy-ness of the school holidays, but Mollie is now 15 months old!

I won't lie, the past month hasn't been the happiest for Mollie (or us!). Those darn teeth have been causing so much pain and upset. Luckily, three have broken through the gum now (giving her a grand total of 6) and I'm hoping relief is on the horizon.
Mollie and Otto also managed to both get their very first tummy bug during the holidays. Poor wee mites. That was no fun at all!

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In amidst the nasties, there have been lovely times, too.
Mollie has formed a firm attachment to her baby. Until finding her baby, she had been 'mothering' soft toys; cuddling, carrying around, patting them gently on the back as she went. But this baby really takes the cake, as far as Mol is concerned.
The maternal instinct truly is a nature vs. nurture thing. This girl has it in spades.

Mol has also discovering singing and dancing, in a big way. Girl's got moves. Her bopping along has turned into swaying and arm movements. It's crazy cute.

Mollie only seems to have a few words in her vocab at the moment.
(Perhaps even fewer than a month ago?_
ALL questions, regardless of answer, get the same reply 'NAH!' (accompanied by a firm shake of the head, of course!)
'Mum!' is shouted loud, 'Ow!' is hilarious, 'Uh-oh!' is whenever anything goes wrong.

Her wobbly waddle has turned into a steadier, wide-legged walk. She has picked up speed, and delights in running away at changing time, or chasing her brothers down the hall.

I had considered sending Mol to a friends place a morning or two each week, this term. I had plans to up the sewing hours (and, thus, income..) but at the moment her sleep is all over the place, and clinginess could be her middle name. Sewing may just have to wait.

We're keeping our fingers crossed for a slightly cruisier month with our little lady, but one never knows with small people.

Lately.

It has been quiet around here. A lull in blog posts.
It's not for lack of love, merely lack of interesting things to post about. Life just bubbles along at the moment. Filled with kids, baking, housework, sewing...washing. So, so much washing.
(And some taxes (boo!) and hut making (hooray!)..)

This week marks the start of the school holidays though. Hopefully, this will mean a little less rushing from home-school-kindy and a little more time to hang out, take photos and do blog-worthy things. I'm not usually one to look forward to the holidays, but I'm actually sort of looking forward to these ones. Just the thought of not having to be anywhere. Glorious.

A Baby Raccoon.

For Otto's party, I knew Mol needed to be a raccoon. I also knew she would definitely not leave a hat/ears/facepaint on. She's not a hat wearer at the best of times.

I've been in love with the Wild Things dresses for quite awhile now.

Had I been organised/flush enough, I would have purchased one of those. I'm not big on copying other crafters work, I promise.

I decided to have a go at making something similar.

I used a slightly different shaped dress, a reversible a-line dress. I knew I wanted it to be lined, for a bit of extra shape, so a reversible made sense. I didn't add the pockets, and I made my raccoon face quite a bit bigger. I used dome snaps on the straps, making it super easy to get on and off.

I made some little stripey leggings to be worn with it. For extra Raccoony-ness.

I had a bit of fun making this, and it did look cute on Mollie, but my version is no where near as gorgeous as the originals. Isn't that always the way? It's a good lesson, that I should have saved up/been organised and gone to the source : ) 
I dearly hope to purchase some of these amazing overalls for Mol before next Winter.
Anyone want to split postage?

Black-and-white-Michael-Jackson-cat Party! (Super mega lots of photos!)

 Okay, so I did think about trying to split this into multiple posts.. but meh. I will post all but Mol's costume in one post - it's just easier for both of us! Will just take a little longer to load..

Our sweet Otto turned 4 on Sunday!

Hi day was filled with lovely presents and lots of special treats, including a bit of a shindig with some friends and whanau.

Otto is such a creative wee soul, so when we talked about what kind of party he might like, I shouldn't really have been so surprised when he declared that he would like a 'Black-and-white-Michael-Jackson-cat' party. Those things all go together, right?!

Actually, it turns out they DO.
Who knew there were so many pictures of Michael Jackson holding cats!? While preparing for this party, I found 6 pictures, at different stages of his life, featuring felines!
(Otto was born 4 days after MJ passed away... kindred spirits?)
I, naturally, printed out all of these pictures, and made them into a fabulous bunting. I think it will need to be hung in the boys room when I take it down from the lounge wall.

We kept the other decorations fairly basic, too. Black table cloth, white plates, $2 shop lanterns, black+white balloons. We got out all the Michael Jackson records we have, and they provided the soundtrack for the party.

 I thought about trying to have black and white themed food, but I realised this was just not going to work. And, honestly, (my) kids prefer good old kiwi party food. Sausage rolls, cheerios, lollies, hundreds and thousands biscuits, chips etc. We had cheese and crackers, mandarins and mini sandwiches, too.
I printed out pictures of MJ, and popped them on kebab skewers, to decorate the table.

Otto chose his cake from the cake book - a cat.
(More specifically, a cat that looks like our cat, Porridge.)
I must say, it wasn't what I expected him to choose (the cat part of the birthday party theme came post-cake choosing..), but I was really pleased he didn't pick out something really difficult! Cake making is really not my strength! I had a bit of fun putting it all together, but it is certainly no prize-winning cake. Heh.

Our guests donned their black and white gear, and we dressed in costumes.
Abraham was an All Black (named Meow'a Nonu! Haha), I was a cat, Mollie a raccoon (a post about her outfit coming soon) and Otto and Aesop were Michael Jackson himself.

My dear boy looked so ridiculously sweet (albeit quite serious) in his little tux.
We had a bit of a scare, when the courier delivered his suit to the wrong house on Thursday morning. Luckily, with the help of a mutual friend, the woman in the house where it was delivered, tracked me down and got it to me on Friday. Phew! Small towns do pay off sometimes!
Otto was so pleased with how he looked - quite certain him and MJ were twins.
All his friends at the party decided to call him 'Little Michael' : )

We had such a great time!
Happy birthday, Otto Schnotto! We love you so much x